1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,600
<i>Direction: Jean Bertho</i>

2
00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:12,280
If we moved to the provinces,
we'd be free from that mess!

3
00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,920
No, thank you.
I'd rather have traffic jams.

4
00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,200
I'd like to try provincial life.

5
00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:19,920
Not for my whole life.

6
00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:21,600
- Yes.
- No.

7
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:23,080
Yes, I would agree.

8
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:24,360
I would move.

9
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:25,520
What for?

10
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:27,440
- Yes.
- Not in the North.

11
00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:29,720
- In the South, yes.
- Sure.

12
00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,120
Moving to the provinces is my dream.

13
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,400
The air is filthy here.

14
00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:36,800
I have a one-hour commute
twice a day.

15
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,120
The motorway's jammed on week-ends.

16
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,880
Forget going to the cinema,
you can't park.

17
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,760
One could have one's own house there,
one's own garden,

18
00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,240
the sea down the road.

19
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:48,720
We'd go swimming.

20
00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,080
They're offering me such a good job.

21
00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,880
That's something else.
A good job, of course...

22
00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,440
<i>He managed to convince her</i>
<i>that they got married to share a life,</i>

23
00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:00,400
<i>as long as it was his life.</i>

24
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,680
<i>So finally, she packed her trunks,</i>

25
00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,400
<i>only to find herself in an unknown town,</i>

26
00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,680
<i>in a strange house.</i>

27
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:09,320
<i>I've met about 100</i>

28
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,760
<i>of these brutally</i>
<i>uprooted Parisian women.</i>

29
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,440
<i>Most of them</i>
<i>had the same first thoughts,</i>

30
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:17,760
<i>shed the same first tears,</i>

31
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:20,080
<i>and spoke the same first words.</i>

32
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:23,320
At first, it was really terrible.

33
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,760
That winter was very hard,

34
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:28,920
very cold.

35
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,200
If memory serves me well,
I wept as I moved in.

36
00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,800
My first winter was rather sad.

37
00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:37,360
I felt very bored.

38
00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:41,760
My husband was offered a position,
so of course, I followed him.

39
00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:45,640
Work is essential to a man's life.

40
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,680
I didn't choose
to move to the provinces.

41
00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:50,400
I followed my husband.

42
00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,000
And I arrived...

43
00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,120
We had never lived
in a large residential development.

44
00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,320
The neighbourhood was...

45
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,280
They said it was expanding.

46
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,440
But all I could see was the prison,

47
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:06,240
the cemetery,
the neighbouring station,

48
00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:09,360
gardens overturned by building sites.

49
00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,360
It was hard at first
but it's OK now.

50
00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:14,320
I cried a lot.

51
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,040
I was born in Paris,
right in the centre of Paris, actually.

52
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,560
I came to live in this house.

53
00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,400
I had to draw water from a well.
It used to be here.

54
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,920
It was quite a change.

55
00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:29,360
Our first winter?

56
00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,120
It was really made
of week-ends in Paris.

57
00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,240
We did nothing but wait for the week-end
to go to Paris,

58
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,120
to see friends and go out.

59
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,320
To be honest, during the week,

60
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:44,160
there wasn't much.

61
00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,760
Shops disappoint you
when you come from Paris.

62
00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:48,920
We're spoilt.

63
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,960
Lovely products at varied prices.
 No such thing in the provinces.

64
00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:55,800
Shops weren't attractive
in the provinces.

65
00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,240
I enjoyed Parisian antique shops,
strolling through the <i>Village suisse.</i>

66
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,200
You can't find
such things in the provinces.

67
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,720
Even clothes shops
aren't very enticing.

68
00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:10,480
Yes, I missed my lovely hairdresser,

69
00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:13,800
my dressmaker, my dentist.

70
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,400
I had my little routine.

71
00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,760
My neighbourhood
didn't have many good shops.

72
00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:22,400
<i>The ex-Parisian will need</i>
<i>at least 6 months</i>

73
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,240
<i>to find a good butcher's,</i>
<i>away from Rue Lepic.</i>

74
00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,960
<i>But once she's found it...</i>

75
00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,640
Once you've seen it all,
set up your home,

76
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,560
you aren't as busy,

77
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,600
then boredom might set in more.

78
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,320
I can't see it.

79
00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,280
But maybe I can't see it
because I'm blind.

80
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:03,680
I can't understand
the way she's reacted.

81
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:05,520
All day long,

82
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:06,640
I work.

83
00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,200
Whether I work in a factory here

84
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,760
or in Paris,
my life is exactly the same.

85
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,320
My reactions are the same as in Paris.

86
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,400
I couldn't feel,

87
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,040
except when I slipped in the mud 
on my way home,

88
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,480
I couldn't feel any change in my life.

89
00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:26,040
As my wife

90
00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,000
loves me,
if I'm not mistaken,

91
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:30,640
as she loves her son,

92
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,080
as her son and I are happy here,

93
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,640
I think that,
as a consequence,

94
00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,120
she should be happy too.

95
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,160
Now that I live in the provinces,

96
00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,280
my office is only 5-10 mn away.

97
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,000
It's wonderful.

98
00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,040
It saves me a two-hour commute,
at least.

99
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,680
During that time,
I can do something else or even nothing.

100
00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,120
He goes to the cinema at times,
and there's football,

101
00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:56,840
on Sundays.

102
00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:58,400
For a man,

103
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,160
there are only advantages
to leaving the big city.

104
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:04,960
Work conditions are much better.

105
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,400
Factories are usually lighter,

106
00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,160
commutes shorter.

107
00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,560
You don't have to drive back to Paris
in the evening,

108
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,840
with all those traffic jams.

109
00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,280
For a man, it's very good.

110
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,560
<i>The man has taken his work,</i>

111
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:21,680
<i>along with his life.</i>

112
00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:23,920
<i>The woman has taken only herself.</i>

113
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,800
<i>She can only find herself</i>
<i>on the threshold of her new life.</i>

114
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:29,800
Loneliness, not really,

115
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,720
but it felt like living
like an older woman,

116
00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,360
to be retired, so to speak,

117
00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,600
to be waiting for the end,

118
00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:39,280
the end of what?

119
00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,640
I started to read a lot here.

120
00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,080
You need to figure out a way of life.

121
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:48,360
And it's...
You...

122
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:52,160
You need time to figure it out.

123
00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,080
You need to get used

124
00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:58,080
to your own company,

125
00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,440
to try

126
00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,280
and realise things better,

127
00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:04,200
to understand what you can.

128
00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,040
I thought I'd be on holiday forever.

129
00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,280
But I was very disappointed
when winter came.

130
00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:12,800
Winter means dampness and fog.

131
00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,760
The fog is quite depressing.

132
00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:16,600
I don't like the weather.

133
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,240
The weather doesn't agree with me.

134
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:21,920
I lost 7 kg the first year.

135
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,920
Much too foggy and rainy.

136
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,720
Not enough sun.
But you don't notice it in Paris.

137
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:30,920
The climate isn't good in Paris.

138
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,160
It's probably not as pure,
but we prefer it.

139
00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,120
After 2 years of feeling stifled
in the mountains,

140
00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:42,040
I strolled through Place de la Concorde
and I could breathe again.

141
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:43,920
I felt at home.

142
00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:46,760
I walked down the avenues,
along the banks.

143
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:48,640
Everything I loved was there.

144
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,160
It felt like a resurrection.

145
00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,480
Since I came back to Paris,
I'm a changed woman.

146
00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,240
<i>Some of these uprooted women</i>
<i>are already back.</i>

147
00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,120
<i>They couldn't adapt to provincial life,</i>

148
00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:05,040
<i>they couldn't make friends.</i>

149
00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,800
It's widely known
that provincials are usually very cold.

150
00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,440
It's very difficult to get to know them.

151
00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,200
Really,
they didn't welcome us very well.

152
00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,840
You must be used to their personality.
They're stand-offish and very cold.

153
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,040
Even if there are exceptions,
usually, they stick out of the crowd.

154
00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,040
They are distrustful.

155
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:28,960
Very closed.

156
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,280
I like Parisians.
They're usually beautifully attired.

157
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,160
There's that.
I don't know.

158
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,240
I like the city better
than the countryside.

159
00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:39,800
But here I am.

160
00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,880
I believe that Parisians
are prejudiced though.

161
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:48,960
Whatever comes from the provinces
is ignored.

162
00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,000
Oh yes,
it's the Parisian state of mind.

163
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,880
They don't mix with others.
We enjoyed the theatre in Paris.

164
00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:58,160
We went there occasionally.

165
00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:00,760
During our last year in Paris,

166
00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,600
I saw <i>Gog et Magog</i>,
as far as I can remember.

167
00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,200
I went to the cinema each week in Paris.
I never go here.

168
00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:10,800
I don't miss it at all though.

169
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,280
My goodness, never.

170
00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,560
I never go to the cinema here.

171
00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:17,760
<i>Many of these exiles</i>

172
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,480
<i>miss neither the latest comedy, </i>

173
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,320
<i>nor the latest movie.</i>

174
00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,960
<i>They miss advertising columns,</i>

175
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:31,720
<i>and cinemas' bright islands of lights</i>
<i>on the Champs-Elysées in the evening.</i>

176
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,480
<i>They don't miss</i>
<i>the goods displayed in shop windows.</i>

177
00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,320
<i>They miss feeling tempted.</i>

178
00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,280
You own them through your eyes only,
but still, you own them.

179
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,000
You get into the shop.

180
00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:46,160
That life.
Life in Paris.

181
00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:47,640
Even if...

182
00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,280
Indifference exists,
the great indifference of Paris.

183
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,320
Still, there's this life,
movement.

184
00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,440
You can't explain
a stroll through Paris with words.

185
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,920
You'd need to be a poet
to explain Montmartre,

186
00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:02,320
it's impossible.

187
00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,400
Walking through the Marais,

188
00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:07,840
spending the afternoon
along the Seine banks,

189
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,000
it's spellbinding.

190
00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,400
You can't find it elsewhere.

191
00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,000
I'm not so sure about that.

192
00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:17,840
That environment,

193
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,520
each time we talked
about that Parisian environment,

194
00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:23,400
while we lived in Paris,

195
00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,840
we talked
about the underground, traffic jams,

196
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,800
fines you got for parking
in a restricted area.

197
00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,000
I can't remember her saying,
while we lived in Paris:

198
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,480
"I love walking along the Seine banks."

199
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:38,400
She used to say:

200
00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:40,400
"you can't cross the road freely",

201
00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:42,440
"you need to be so careful",

202
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:44,000
always complaints.

203
00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:50,040
She never sounded satisfied
with her Parisian environment.

204
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:51,440
I loved it.

205
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,240
I felt part of it,
I belonged to it.

206
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,280
Here, sometimes you end up...

207
00:09:57,440 --> 00:09:59,120
Boredom seizes you.

208
00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,120
Maybe it's...
Something I haven't mentioned.

209
00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,520
Before we moved here,
my wife worked in Paris.

210
00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:12,000
I'm convinced
that when she gave up

211
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:13,560
her position,

212
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,960
she lost something
that belonged to her.

213
00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,760
Of course,
a woman working in the provinces

214
00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,160
doesn't have the time
to think about drawbacks,

215
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:24,720
and feel lonely,

216
00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:26,800
like one who doesn't work.

217
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,000
Indeed, had I accepted the job

218
00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,800
offered by the vicar to whom I spoke,

219
00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,120
I would have felt much more fulfilled,

220
00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:39,320
because I would have felt
useful and integrated

221
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:40,760
into my parish.

222
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:42,840
I wonder whether I'm sincere

223
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,720
about wanting to work because...

224
00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:48,960
<i>One day though,</i>

225
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,680
<i>even the ones who don't work,</i>

226
00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,800
<i>finally forget their longing for Paris.</i>

227
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,040
<i>And so, their eyes open</i>
<i>on the provinces' offerings.</i>

228
00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,880
The sun shines all day long here.

229
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,000
It's incredible.
It's what's struck me most.

230
00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:08,160
That light.

231
00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,640
We play tennis,
go to the swimming pool.

232
00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:15,120
We go fishing
or bathing in the Loire river.

233
00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:16,640
Just a quick drive,

234
00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:19,800
and you're out in nature,
you can go for a walk.

235
00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,400
It's impossible in Paris
but it's possible here.

236
00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,600
I wouldn't want to move back to Paris.

237
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:28,040
I won't move back.

238
00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:30,000
I would hesitate.

239
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:32,680
I would hesitate to leave.

240
00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,840
Nothing has won me over
in the provinces.

241
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,640
I love Paris twice as much.

242
00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:41,560
<i>As they don't all move back,</i>

243
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,880
<i>you also get to meet women</i>
<i>who slowly, seamlessly,</i>

244
00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,440
<i>can feel themselves</i>
<i>becoming provincials.</i>

245
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,040
I feel like a provincial
when I go to Paris.

246
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:55,520
I've lost the Parisians' rhythm
on the underground.

247
00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:57,200
Watching them is fun.

248
00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,160
I watch them live their lives.

249
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,640
Is that a provincial state of mind?

250
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,800
Maybe I've turned
into a provincial already.

251
00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,920
We have become provincials,
we live in our little provinces,

252
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,480
and when we see Parisians,
sometimes we feel a bit inferior.

253
00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:18,920
At first, I was very proud
of my Parisian status,

254
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:20,960
but now,

255
00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:25,840
I enjoy enough things in Orléans
to get a sense of pride from them.

256
00:12:26,040 --> 00:12:28,920
My goodness, no,
I wouldn't move back to Paris.

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00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,160
Subtitles: J. Borge,
E. Fuchs & N. Guechi